Flawless
by BellaDameNoir
Summary: It's the start of the re-election campaign for President Fitzgerald Grant and OPA has agreed to help him. A ONE-SHOT. I kept listening to Beyonce's "Flawless" and thinking about Olivia Pope. She never gets the monologues that other characters get and I needed her to say what she needed to Mellie. It's long overdue. *I don't own these characters*


Flawless

They were getting nowhere. They had been at this for an hour and it was going nowhere. This was not how she operated. She looked around at her team and felt their frustration. She owed it to them and to herself to fix this situation. This was not what they signed up for; this was not how they were supposed to be treated; they were better than this; they were Gladiators and deserved the utmost respect for their brilliance.

She stood and said in a firm, unbending tone, "I need the room please."

Everyone grew silent. No one expected those words from her. They usually came from the man seated at her right. But this was her meeting; her show; her world; her rules. She didn't need to say it twice. She waited patiently as everyone stood to gather their papers for a quick exit. She kept her eyes fixed on the person she needed a personal conference with and said, "Not you."

Mellie knew she was addressing her, still she was shocked to be demanded in this manner. She was the First Lady; people didn't command her, she commanded them. She folded her arms across her chest in defiance and almost thought to ignore the 'suggestion' and walk out but Olivia's stare was intense and she wasn't backing down. Mellie's curiosity was piqued; she wanted to hear what Olivia had to say to her.

Everyone looked between the two women, recognized the tension of a potential showdown and moved quickly out of the room. Fitz was the last to leave; he almost hesitated; he thought maybe he should protect Olivia from the onslaught that was Mellie but she didn't need a Savior; she didn't need a Hero; she was her own Powerhouse.

When the room was clear, Olivia remained standing in one corner of the room while Mellie stood in the other.

"What do you want Mellie? What is your endgame?"

"What?" Mellie chuckled at the ridiculous question. It was obvious what she wanted – to retain her position of power as the First Lady of the United States.

"What do you want? You want your husband for another four years? You want to be First Lady for another four years? Is that it? Is that all you want?"

Mellie eyed her suspiciously. "I want that and more….I want you gone….I want you to disappear…I don't want to hear your name…I don't want to know you exist…I don't want my husband to want you anymore!...That's what I want…Can you do that for me? Can you take care of that for me?"

Mellie smirked at her, thinking that she had cornered Olivia with the questions. Mellie thought her brutally honest response was the last thing Olivia expected. Maybe she had succeeded in throwing her off her game. She could take down the "formidable Olivia Pope" and inwardly applauded herself.

Olivia calmly responded, "I can do that for you….I can disappear…I can walk out that door and you and your husband will never know where I am and in time people will forget I was ever here. I can do that….But you would be destroyed; you would have nothing; no one; not…a….damn…thing."

"Oh really?" Mellie responded sarcastically.

Olivia ignored her and continued, "Because what you are failing to remember is that I made you...You exist because I say you exist…you exist because I allow you to. It is my sacrifice that allows your husband to stay with you and do his job effectively. Are you quickly forgetting what happened the 10 months I was out of his life? I don't think you or the country could handle it if I permanently disappeared. Our arrangement works in the interest of this country, but the country is fickle – one minute they love and cherish you and the next minute their throwing you out with the bath water. You saw that when you outted Fitz…how long was it before the country turned against you. I believe "cold and shrew" were the more popular terms that they used to describe you."

Mellie's mouth dropped open at the boldness of Olivia's words. Olivia had never spoken to her in this way; it was unexpected and Mellie could not yet figure out how to respond.

"I made you Mellie…you remember that moment on the trail when I orchestrated the mending of the relationship with your husband. I made you likable; I made you marketable; I made you First Lady Material. And along the way I learned all your dirty little secrets; the ones that are brimming just beneath the surface and if I leave there will be no one here to keep your reputation in tack. If all those nasty little rumors were to come out; you would be buried alive."

Mellie tried to laugh it off; pretend she was not affected by Olivia's words but her venomous smile was shaky. "What do you think this little speech is supposed to do…scare me….You don't scare me Olivia. You don't know what I'm capable of…You don't know what I can do to you!...So don't you dare threaten me!"

"Oh that's right…The Political Animal, willing to do anything to hang on to a position that has absolutely no power or authority in this world. You are an ornament on his arm; you plant gardens and you kiss kids, help them lose weight. You are so busy spying on Fitz, imposing yourself where you don't belong that you haven't learned how to use your position to benefit the country in a positive way. You run around here screaming to the top of your lungs to anyone who will listen about how important you are when all that does is highlight how **_un_**important you are. You can do nothing. You have no power. All you know how to do is scheme, manipulate and devise a plan to ruin other people and guess what, that takes no skill, no power and no intelligence. All it takes is an evil mind that doesn't have human compassion; a quality that you completely lack."

"You black bitch! I will not stand here for you to insult me…this is bullshit and you can figure out how to make this campaign work without me."

Olivia ignored the insult and laughed. "Believe me….we would all prefer it that way but you just won't go quietly into that good night."

"And that would make you very happy wouldn't it…for me to give you MY husband but you won't have him…I'll die before I let your black ass have him."

_And there it was. That's what it has always been about._

"Until this moment I never realized how much you want to be me…how much you envy me," Olivia said in calm wonderment.

Mellie scoffed, "Oh this is rich….my husband's black **_whore_** actually believes I envy her." Her temperament quickly changed and her ire rose, "You are the one desperate for my position…you want to be First Lady!"

"You're wrong…I don't want your position. Why would I? As I've said your position is nothing; it does nothing; it's worth nothing; even **you** hate your position…No, you resent the fact that this 'black' woman has much more power then you could ever have. It's this 'black' woman that politicians, kings, generals, statesmen come begging for salvation; it's this 'black' woman who has forged her own way in the world…not on the coattails of some man…not begging for some man to love me…not muted and unable to demonstrate my own intelligence. It's this 'black' woman that has reached a pinnacle of power in this 'white' man's world…in your world. And what's more….the leader of this world….your husband, not only loves me but he values me…he respects me…he waits for me…he watches for me….he exists for me! And it's not because of what is between my thighs…it is because of who I am, what I am and how I value, respect and love him. So no….I would never want your position….it would be a demotion for me…I would be going backwards if I settled for your role and I'm worth a hell of a lot more than that."

Mellie breathed fire. She didn't want to hear anymore of Olivia's delusional rant. She made a move to leave the room when Olivia said, "Mellie, your standing several feet behind a man you can't even respect but that is the life you chose….this is what you wanted….what you spent your life striving for and what you are clawing tooth and nail to hold on to. Do you want that for another 4 years? If so, then that's fine; my team and I will help you hold on to the dream. But don't for one minute take it out on any of us because you are unhappy, miserable and feeling un-loved. This is the world you created and facilitated. And you are the one who has chosen not to change it. You are the one who has decided to suck it up, take the shit Fitz feeds you and not go after your own life. So please just stop….cooperate with the campaign and stop…because no one, not one of us feels sorry for you in the least."

When she reached the door knob, Olivia finally said, "If you make the decision to fully cooperate, without the complaining and the bitchy comments, then I expect to see you at the meeting tomorrow, ready to work; if not, then I expect you to have signed the divorce papers."

Mellie left the room and slammed the door behind her as hard as she could.

When she wordlessly pushed past the group still waiting outside, Abby was the first to speak up with a snide comment directed towards the President, "Bet you're sorry you married that crazy bitch."

Fitz smirked at her and mumbled, "Every single damn day." He meant to say it low enough so no one heard but the low chuckling told him that they did.

When they walked back into the conference room, Olivia calmly said, "Give her 24 hours, she has some things she needs to consider and a decision to make. In the meantime, let's get back to work."

Everyone looked at each other and it took a while for anyone to speak. They heard most of the exchange between her and First Lady and to be honest, Olivia scared them all just a bit.


End file.
